


Mirror, Mirror

by Pok Chookity (Pok_Chookity)



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Action, Bit of Emotionally Stifled Romance, Bit of Fluff, F/F, F/M, Parallel Universes, Pining, Plot, Some Sexiness, This Probably Becomes Canon Divergence, bit of angst, some drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:34:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27041329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pok_Chookity/pseuds/Pok%20Chookity
Summary: What if you could travel to a parallel Universe where something happened differently and the people you know are different versions of themselves, and some of them are their evil twins?Could this be everything that Catra ever wanted? Could Adora find everything she ever wanted too?
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra)
Comments: 31
Kudos: 68





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If you’re a Trekkie, you know this title ;)
> 
> This fic came to be because someone looked at another SPOP teleportation related story I was working on and asked if I was writing a Mirrorverse fic. I’m grateful for that question. (And that other fic will hopefully be finished soon too lol)
> 
> This is rated T, but be warned that both Catra and Adora say F***, there are instances of drinking, and of some characters getting all steamy(but not graphically so). There’s also a mention of a past death of a secondary character, but it’s nothing they haven’t done on the show.

It is a dark and stormy night in The Fright Zone. The sky, which has never been too clear to begin with, is laden with heavy dark clouds. The wind gusts, and an occasional lightning hits whichever tip of a tall structure is nearest.

Entrapta listens to the rumble of thunder reverberating through the walls of the compartment she’s turned into her laboratory, and which lately has become a place where the ‘Super Pal Trio’ have taken to spending time together, be that mostly to observe her new inventions in action.

She looks up and muses that it would’ve been nice to have a skylight window, so the flashes of lightning could cast stark patterns of light and shadow over her work. It actually would’ve been quite pretty.

She’s interrupted from her aesthetic considerations when the door swishes open to reveal Catra and Scorpia, who appear to be in the middle of a conversation.

“So what are we going to do tonight?” Scorpia asks enthusiastically as they enter.

“The same thing we do every night, Scorpia,” Catra mutters dryly. “Try to take over Etheria.”

“I was just thinking. What if we have a Super Pal Trio game night, play some cards, I don’t know. Take a break.”

“Really?” Catra gives her a look.

“That would be great!” Entrapta glides over to them, carried by her hair. “Oh, but I think it will have to wait. I have something to show you!”

“See, Entrapta gets it,” Catra says. “You said it was important,” she turns to the scientist.

“Yes! I have finally worked out all the kinks from my teleportation technology and am now ready for a test!”

“Huh?” Catra says puzzled. “I thought you said it was too dangerous and only magic princesses should use it, so you won’t work on that.”

“Oh. Did I not tell you? I must’ve forgotten.” Entrapta twirls her hair.

Catra studies her. The geek princess can be so puzzling sometimes.

“Wait, wait,” Scorpia says, looking concerned. “Are we sure about the test part?”

Entrapta’s inventions had a tendency to… well, blow up.

“Of course!” Entrapta jumps excitedly. “Observe!” She rushes over to a sophisticated looking console in the middle of the room.

“Wait, now?” Catra says incredulously.

“Yes! Why wait?”

Catra can think of a few reasons. Like ducking behind that couch for starters. Or getting to a place where she can observe the whole thing through a thick armored plate of glass. Come to think of it, they really should invest in building something like that for Entrapta, considering how she’s their most valuable weapon specialist.

But Entrapta is already activating the console.

“Please note that I don’t need any additional equipment, I can teleport an object from anywhere within this room to a place of my choosing. Pay attention to that picture!”

She points at a framed picture of an odd looking cat propped on a small table. “I will now move it to the other side of the room.”

She pulls a switch.

Patterns of green light begin to swirl around the picture.

Catra edges backwards.

Scorpia goes into a defensive crouch with an aim to tackle Catra and to land with her behind the couch should the need arise.

A sound of thunder comes from outside and suddenly everything goes dark. The green light disappears.

The glowing eyes of Entrapta’s mask blink in the darkness. “Hmm. It would seem we had a power surge.”

The sound of electric crackling splits the air and the light comes back on, flickering. With it come back the green swirling patterns.

The console erupts in a shower of sparks, and the green swirl pops outwards through the room with a blinding flash and a loud crackle.

And then it’s all over. The lights are back to normal, the lab looks undamaged. The cat picture is still on the table.

A very confused looking Catra stands in the middle of the room.

Entrapta however is nowhere to be seen.

“Gosh dangit, I knew we should’ve played cards,” Scorpia says, standing up.

“Huh?” Catra says, slowly turning towards her.

**

The green swirls of light seem to be everywhere at once, outside of her, inside her, they are her, and Catra gasps and doesn’t gasp, she feels frozen.

The next moment she lands on her feet back in the lab. And finally gasps.

There’s movement next to her and she sees Entrapta, swaying slightly and looking around in awe.

“A little more heads up next time?!” Catra rasps.

“Oh, but don’t you see? It worked!” Entrapta goes off excitedly.

“What worked? Scorpia?” Catra looks around. “Hey, where’s Scorpia?”

She’s nowhere to be seen.

“Did you teleport Scorpia?”

“Oh no! But I did teleport us!”

“What are you talking about, we’re right where we were.”

“Are we though?”

Catra looks around. Huh. The lab is darker than before the experiment, and she chalked it up to the lighting still having problems, but now as she’s able to take a closer look…

“Where’s the console? And the couch? And really, all of your stuff is gone.”

“Isn’t it amazing?” Entrapta’s eyes light up.

“What is going on here,” Catra mutters.

She walks over to the door and looks into the corridor. It’s darker in there too.

“Entrapta, what did you do? The outside looks different too, did you just teleport half of the Fright Zone somewhere else?”

Hordak would be so pissed. She’d have to explain it was all Entrapta’s idea. He listens to the geek, let her deal with him. Unless… what if Entrapta accidentally teleported him somewhere too… like permanently…

She’s interrupted from her wistful musings.

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t!” Entrapta says. “But I do have a theory. I am now going to go confirm it!” She removes a vent cover with her hair and promptly disappears inside.

“Entrapta!”

Catra groans. Her torment’s eternal.

“I have to do everything myself these days,” she mutters and heads out to investigate.

*

Okay, this isn’t right.

Catra looks around the corridor she passes. Her first thought was that Entrapta teleported things out. Now she sees that the corridor has new things in. More equipment on the walls for starters.

She spots a guard ahead. She may get some answers now.

“Hey you!”

The helmeted Horde guard snaps at attention and gives her a sharp salute.

She halfheartedly salutes back.

“What is going on here? Where did that equipment come from?”

“Force Captain Catra?” Guard says shakily.

She’s the second in command, but it turned out nothing comes after the Force Captain after all.

“Yes, that’s me. The equipment?”

“It… It’s always been here, Force Captain. I don’t know where it came from!”

He starts to visibly shake.

What is going on. He’s clearly terrified of her. She never had an effect quite like that on them even after becoming second in command. This is more… a Hordak kind of effect.

She shakes the thought off.

“Hmm. Dismissed.” She mutters.

The guard sags in relief and hurries away.

This is more and more confusing.

No point avoiding the inevitable then. She’d have to go see the man in charge to finally figure this out. And who knows, maybe Entrapta’s experiment placed someone new in his place, if that’s what it’s done with that equipment. Someone nicer maybe.

*

The guards at the entrance to Hordak’s throne hall salute her, same as everyone she encountered on the way there. She discovered she can just ignore them.

Which she does, strolling into the hall and steadying herself for what should be an unpleasant conversation at best.

The hall turns out to be empty.

The throne is empty too.

There’s not even an Imp to bee seen lurking anywhere.

But there are guards stationed on the inside too, so the room is definitely being used.

“Heeey, Catra.”

Catra freezes.

And spins.

_Adora_ is standing at the entrance.

Catra blinks. Twice.

Adora gives her a sly look and swaggers into the Horde’s throne hall like she owns the place, and Catra is so taken aback that she barely registers her wearing not red, but a white jacket with huge red horde wings on the back.

Adora nods to the guards. “Better have some good news for me today, horde scum. How is the occupation of Erelandia going?”

“Excellent, Force Captain Adora!” They snap in unison.

Catra just stares at her, dumbstruck. She has no time to process it properly. There’s no way Adora really would be here. It must be a trick. A rebel ploy.

She acts on instinct and pounces, toppling Adora to the floor and ending straddling her with an elbow to her throat, hissing.

“Wha…” Adora umphs at the impact, and glares at her.

And then something completely unexpected happens. She relaxes and gives Catra her dorky grin.

“Aww, did you miss me?” she says.

Her grin takes on a slightly sinister edge, she pushes her leg between Catra’s and rolls them over, pinning her down. And Catra is too surprised to resist.

“So did I,” Adora says, looking into her eyes. “But war business first.” She pushes up and offers Catra her hand.

Catra takes it, and stands up in a daze.

Adora lets go of her with another grin and strides up the stairs to _Hordak’s_ throne, her swinging ponytail making Catra feel hypnotized.

She watches Adora brush a speck of dust from the arm rest, all business, and… sit down. Actually no, drape herself over it, lounging cross-legged. And apparently not a single person in the room thinks that this is not how it’s supposed to be.

“Have we subdued Salineas yet?” she asks Catra.

Catra swallows. She has to say something, and luckily - at least in this particular instance - she had a lot of practice coming up with evasive answers for Shadow Weaver. She mentally cringes at the comparison. It must be Adora in that chair.

“It’s in the process of being done.”

Adora chuckles.

“Oh, take your time. It’s not like it’s a competition or anything.” She pats a spot on the throne next to herself, inviting her in like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

Catra’s eyes widen a little. Considering the chair’s previous owner’s penchant for grandiose it’s more like a couch for them, with enough room for two.

“Riiight.” She drawls, finally feeling like she’s gauged where she and… Adora stand, in this completely unreal but obviously happening situation. “I wouldn’t want those sneaky Salineans to try getting one past me though. I was just on my way to check on it.”

She turns to the exit.

“Hey.”

She hears Adora’s neutral voice behind her and turns.

“See you tonight.” Adora winks.

Catra swallows. Gives a nod like she knows what she’s doing, and exits.

*

This must be a dream! Of course, how did she not think of that before. Entrapta’s experiment must’ve knocked her out and now she’s dreaming of everything she ever wanted. She and Adora are running the Horde together, and apparently even Hordak is nowhere to be seen. So why did she bolt out of there like someone had stepped on her tail?

Catra stops and looks around the secluded corridor she must’ve walked into in her bewildered state.

Because that was so much and so unexpected that she forgot she no longer wants Adora back in the Horde. That’s why.

She should just wake up. Or if this isn’t a dream find Entrapta and figure out what’s going on and how to fix it and put it back.

So why doesn’t she?

She turns and looks back.

She’s not good with figuring out this emotional stuff.

Because that felt different. A different Adora, but still Adora. Adora who apparently stayed. Who doesn’t want to replace her. Adora who didn’t betray her for some other people and who’s now fighting the very same people with her! Kind of like when Adora got possessed with the First One’s virus, but… better.

Maybe she shouldn’t be thinking about waking up just yet.

Or about fixing it and putting it back. Back to, to what? To Shadow Weaver sitting in a cell and her not quite knowing what to do with her? To her being bogged down in finding stuff like ores for armors while Hordak holds his suffocating lever over her? And to Adora who was supposed to be her friend?

She takes a few heavy breaths until she calms herself down enough. Leans on the wall, glancing back again, and a faint smile appears on her lips.

She should really just get a better hang of what she’s supposed to do here, and then go talk to this Adora. See you tonight, she said. Now what could that possibly mean…

This place might turn out to be something she could get used to.

A vent grating on the wall next to her tumbles open and Entrapta’s head pokes out.

“There you are!”

Catra glances around.

“That’s alright, I made sure you were alone.” Entrapta slides out into the corridor.

“You would not believe the day I’ve been having,” Catra says.

“Do you mean like all the people we know seem to be different versions of themselves and while the places we know are similar they also differ in details?”

“Huh? Did you also find out why that is?”

“It’s because we’re in a parallel Universe!” Entrapta spreads her arms and her hair excitedly and her eyes glow with scientific joy.

“A what now?”

“A world just like ours, but where something happened differently and now it differs in subtle ways?”

She calls that subtle.

“Like me and Adora are in charge here?”

“Oh you two are in charge? That’s so nice, congratulations!”

Catra looks at her, trying to wrap her mind around this. Not a dream then.

“So wait. Is this something like the portal Hordak wants to open?”

“Oh no. That’s to reach a different dimension. From the dimension of Despondos. This is an entirely different thing. My experiment has accidentally breached spacetime!”

“So your teleporter brought us here,” Catra says.

“Yes!” Entrapta nods.

“And this is definitely real.”

“As real as our own home and everyone in it!”

“Hold on. Is there another me here right now? I wouldn’t want to run into my… other self. That could raise questions.”

And put a dent into getting used to this place.

“Actually I theorized that the process of teleportation has switched us places with our twins from this side. I was able to hack into security systems, and it detects only one you, and one me. And according to logs you didn’t leave, so that confirms it. What I’m supposed to be up to I didn’t find, but that’s not surprising, most of my time I’m in the lab anyway.

“Seriously? Oh wait, wait, wait,” Catra says in growing amusement. “So our Adora may run into my twin? Oh this is so good. They’re absolutely terrified of me here. She must be even more bad ass than me. I wish I could see that.” She chuckles.

**

For once, it’s a nice and quiet day in Brightmoon.

Adora walks down the palace corridor, musing she should use the free time to hone up on her sword wielding skills. Or read up on strategy from that book Bow procured from somewhere. Hmm, possibly even go do some loop de loops with Swift Wind, because that counts as the steed aerial combat training.

Because for once, the Horde is being quiet. Catra… is being quiet.

She wonders what Catra does on a quiet day like this. Not loop de loops, that’s for sure. Reading strategy? Probably not. Let’s face it, she always was kind of natural.

So maybe laying curled around a pillow and longing for the good old days?

Adora pauses. Well thinking about that just makes her want to clutch a pillow herself and start longing too. She must shake it off.

She opens a door.

“Heeey, Adora.”

That’s definitely not what Adora ever expected to hear entering her room.

Catra.

Is leisurely stretched on her bed with her chin propped up in her hands, looking up at her, her tail flicking in the air.

Just like one of the ways she sometimes still imagined it, even though she kept telling herself that she should stop, because she should think of Catra as an enemy, and why is she standing there gawking like an idiot.

“For the honor of Grayskull!”

“Oh crap.” Catra jumps off the bed and backs away.

“Forgot about that,” she mutters, watching the glowing eight feet tall warrior princess appear in front of her.

“Catra.” She-Ra trains her sword at her accusatorily. “How did you get in here?”

“Oh please, your palace guards are a joke. Did you see those robes they’re wearing? It’s a wonder they’re not tripping all over themselves.”

Adora knows this evasive quip manner. Catra used to do that when she was nervous about something. Why would she be nervous? This doesn’t make sense. She needs to focus.

“What are you doing here.”

“I need to talk to you.”

“Talk? Really. What’s your game, Catra?” She-Ra stares into her eyes.

“There’s no game. I’ve left the Horde to join you.”

She-Ra nearly drops her sword.

Alright, this has to be a trick. A Horde ploy. Catra must be up to something. But Adora can’t help being shocked. The words she feared she may never hear. And wanted to hear so badly.

“If you want to talk,” She-Ra swallows, “you should be in custody first.”

“Um, I think I would rather decline.”

“Then we have nothing to talk about.”

Catra gives her a gauging look.

“Is that the only way you will listen?”

She-Ra nods slowly.

“Fiiine,” Catra grumbles and extends her hands.

She-Ra nearly drops the Sword of Protection for the second time in one day.

*

“It didn’t take me long to figure out I wasn’t in my Horde anymore. Then Kyle pretty much spilled everything that happened here when I pushed just a little, and I could figure the rest of the differences myself.” Catra looks around from behind a magical force field.

“Seriously, is this your prison?” She regards the slightly less cushioned for the occasion guest room.

“Yes, that’s our prison!” Adora says exasperatedly.

“I still don’t know how I got here though. But apparently, this is not a dream.”

Adora studies her, taking in the story Catra just told her. It sounds way too elaborate to be a lie, even for Catra. But then… Never underestimate Catra. And yet…

“So, um. Why did you decide to… come here?”

“Because of you. The other… you. And you too. Both of you, I guess.” Catra stares at her with… longing?

She continues. “On my side, Shadow Weaver erased her… your memory after Princess Prom.”

“What??”

“Yeah.”

“Crap…”

“But she didn’t just take the time you had in Brightmoon. She also took what was making you good. To make sure that you’d never want to try anything like leaving again. That you’ll be who she wanted you to be.”

She pauses, and Adora thinks she might be detecting a hint of guilt in her eyes.

“I wasn’t there when that happened. Or knew that she’d taken more than your memories. And at first I tried to tell myself that maybe it would be okay, maybe it would be like before as long as we’re together.”

“I thought you didn’t… may not want me to come back.”

“That was what I was beginning to think.”

“Oh.”

“But when Shadow Weaver tried to demote me in your favor, you took her down. And that kind of felt like it made up for a few things.”

“I did that?”

Catra nods.

“Wow.”

“Hordak followed soon after. And suddenly there was no one to answer to anymore. Or anyone who could choose you over me. We ruled and fought together, like partners-”

“Wait, wait. Just like that?”

“Look, I’m not good at explaining all this emotional stuff, do you want to hear my story or not?”

“Sorry, sorry.”

“We were _together_. It was like everything I wanted. But turned out that without those parts it was no longer you. Those were the parts that I liked about you. And then it just kept getting worse.”

Adora looks at her, taken aback. The way she said together, now what could that possibly mean…

Then something else occurs to her.

“Um. Did you just say… liked?” Adora smiles dorkilly.

“Uh, I forgot how much that goes to your head. Yes, liked, happy?”

Adora clears her throat.

“So let me get this straight. You’re saying that the parts of me that are good, parts that made me leave the Horde – turned out that is what you really like about me?”

“It was a terrible shock for me too.” Catra smirks.

Adora tries to process that. What if her Catra likes the same things about her too? If only she could somehow realize that. 

Hold on, does this mean she’s accepted that this story is true? When exactly did that happen.

She studies the Catra behind the force field. She looks the same. But she acts differently. She’s… kind of resigned? Or is it… haunted? It’s subtle but it’s there.

“So um…” Adora says, rubbing the back of her neck. “Did me over there turn into a real jerk or something?”

“Yeah, something like that.” Catra nods.

“Then what happened to my sword? Do I no longer have it or do I turn into some… Evil-Ra?”

Catra sighs. “Are you sure you wanna know?”

At this point, Glimmer materializes in the room, along with Bow who clearly didn’t expect the sudden teleportation.

“Alright,” Glimmer declares. “We’ve heard everything through the door and Adora, that story is ridiculous.”

Even though Adora insisted on talking to Catra alone and filling them in later, they apparently decided to make use of the thin Brightmoon doors to give her support.

“Oh hi, Sparkles. Always nice to see you, no matter the Universe,” Catra drawls sarcastically.

Adora looks between them, a little panicky, and ushers the two of her friends out of the room.

“Look,” she says after the door closes behind them. “I know Catra. And there’s something about her… that’s different. You can’t fake that.”

“Adora, that’s crazy,” Glimmer says.

“And by the way, she can hear us right now too,” Bow supplies.

“Good, so she knows I think she’s PLAYING US!” Glimmer addresses the door.

“Aw, I’m touched.” Comes muffled response.

Glimmer glares.

“Well, it’s not like she can do anything,” Adora says. “And I’m going to watch her!” She adds a little too eagerly, to her own dismay.

“Um-” Glimmer starts but Adora is already escaping back into the room.

“Maybe if we could figure out how she could’ve gotten here, we could know for sure…” Bow says. 

When the door closes behind her, Adora surprises herself by being pleased to find that Catra is still there.

“A practical question,” Catra says. “Where’s the bathroom in this thing?” She pokes at the force field.

“Riiight. The barrier should’ve been bigger to include those rooms back there, they must’ve forgot. I’ll tell them.”

“Pfft.”

“And a bed! You’ll need a bed right?” Adora realizes.

“That also would be nice, thanks.”

Adora pauses. “So. You were going to tell me what happened to the sword.”

Catra looks at her. “Entrapta happened.”

**

Entrapta has never encountered an air duct she couldn’t navigate. Mostly because of the swiftness her hair can propel her in any direction and the built-in infrared night vision in her mask.

Before parting again, they agreed Catra was going to occupy herself with finding more about this place while she was going to try looking for a possible way back to their Universe.

Because one never knows when one might need one, and despite the amount of scientific data that could be gathered here their Universe still has most of her stuff.

At least she agreed, and Catra said ‘whatever’.

She’s never been good at reading emotions, and it was difficult to say why Catra seemed different from her usual self when they started talking about leaving. She should run a study on that when they return.

And towards that end, the best place to look for scientific data in the Horde-

Entrapta falls out of the vent and lands on the floor of Hordak’s sanctum.

It looks almost the same as she knows it, but is missing the tubes with the failed clones lining its walls, and appears more cluttered.

A tall figure stirs where it stands hunched over a worktable.

Hordak straightens and slowly turns around, raising a weapon. The only difference from the one she knows is a dark goatee that matches his hair.

“You.” He sees Entrapta and his weapon lowers slightly. He gives her a long unreadable look.

“You are dead.”

“I am dead?” She looks at him wide eyed.

He disarms his hand cannon and puts it down, continuing to stare at her.

“You clearly don’t belong here. Are you from the past?”

“No,” Entrapta says.

“From a parallel Universe then.” Hordak’s voice softens.

“How did you know?” Her eyes light up and she glides over to him.

He pauses, seemingly from her sudden proximity.

“I have considered multiple avenues for the… work that I’m doing. But none of them have panned out.” He makes a large swiping gesture towards his worktable.

“Oh, what are you working on now?” She leans in to peer at the schematics there. “It looks complicated!”

“It’s…” He watches her as she goes over the schemes. “Time travel.”

“Fascinating…”

She is about to get completely engrossed in the tech, but she pauses and straightens to look up at him.

“Does it have anything to do with why I’m no longer here?”

He remains silent.

“What happened?” she says.

“You worked on that sword.”

“Oh.” She looks in understanding. “Was the experiment a failure?…”

He nods.

She reaches out with her hair hand and puts it on his shoulder. He doesn’t stop her.

“And now I’m trying to find a way to go back and fix it!” He says.

That is so nice of him.

“Do you need any help?”

He looks at her. “I would expect it would be you asking for my help to return to your Universe.”

“Oh, that can wait,” she smiles.

It definitely looks like he needs a lab partner, she muses. And his sanctum lab could benefit from organizing. He looks so consumed with his work. It makes sense now why Adora and Catra are running things.  
  
*

Catra stops at a door and studies it. This is the place. The door to her… and Adora’s quarters.

It still feels unreal to think of it that way. Apparently they share quarters here. Among other things.

That was one of the many bits of information she was able to glean while innocuously studying the Fright Zone for the rest of the day. No one dared to question her what she was doing or why she was at any given place, and she made sure to avoid areas where she could run into more people who could be familiar with her, like Scorpia, or Lonnie with Rogelio, and even Kyle.

But she had to make one exception. She had to stop by the Black Garnet chamber to find out what happened to Shadow Weaver, because there wasn’t a single mention of her anywhere.

The chamber didn’t prove to be different. Even the Black Garnet was gone, as if someone had meticulously scoured the Horde of any reminder of the sorceress.

But she had been here, originally.

She knows because right when she was checking the chamber, Entrapta popped out again, filled her in on the situation with Hordak, which was much to her satisfaction, informed her that the research of the method of travelling back was being handled, whatever, and also supplied her with an infopad, which allowed her to get an idea of what she herself should be doing and of some past events. Except for what eventually happened to Shadow Weaver.

She opens the door and goes inside.

Just as she expected, it’s sparse but pretty functional and not overly excessive. Very Adora and very her. Oh, couple of swords mounted on the wall, and a whip for company, nice. A big warm looking fuzzy rug on the floor, that really works for her. And thankfully the bed isn’t the bunk kind.

Time to check on her personal files. She tried from a terminal earlier, but apparently this Catra has a different password. Entrapta supplied her with the correct one when they talked.

Oddly enough it wasn’t HordeRuleZ, but turned out to be something called Avocato. The hell?

She looks around for the computer console.

A swoosh of the door startles her and she dives into the bathroom. Then immediately chides herself for acting on instinct. She’s supposed to be here.

“Hey, Catra,” Adora says teasingly as she walks into the quarters.

Catra watches her, hidden in the darkness.

Adora smirks, seeing that the room seems empty. She sheds her Force Captain jacket and looks around.

“Here kitty, kitty, kitty…” she calls sweetly.

Catra’s ears perk up and an involuntary thrill rolls down her spine, centering at the base of her tail, which instantly goes bushy. She flattens it with her hand and steps out into the room.

“Hey Adora.”

“Aw, not even a pounce from the shadows today?” Adora teases.

Catra pauses momentarily, thinking of how she should play this. “I practice variety. Pouncing from the shadows every time gives you an advantage of seeing me coming.”

Talking about Adora as an object of hunt triggers something deep inside her, something primal. Catra’s pupils dilate as they fixate on her, watching Adora’s every move.

“Is that what you were doing in the hall today, practicing variety by pouncing me in front of the rest of the Horde?” Adora advances her slowly, looking at her intently.

“You didn’t see it coming, right?”

“Right. But don’t do that again.” With that Adora charges her.

Catra is fast. But apparently not fast enough for this Adora. Or maybe she doesn’t need to be. She ends up pinned to the wall, Adora’s body pressed hard into hers and keeping her in place, her hands gripping her wrists, her face a breath apart, her blue-gray eyes staring into hers intently.

Oh fuck. A wave of heat explodes inside Catra and pools in her lower belly. She hasn’t thought about Adora this way for some time now. Not since the lonely nights in the Horde when Adora would be called to Shadow Weaver and she would curl into a ball, hiding under the covers of Adora’s bed, inside her scent. Or not since the times later when she needed an angry release, their battles in her mind, thinking of how good it would feel to have Adora at her mercy, all powerless and hers. And not since those few times when the release wasn’t angry. When Adora wasn’t powerless. When Adora was like she used to be, _kind_. Times she loathed herself for after.

But now… now there is this. And this… this whole different thing… works.

Adora leans in and captures her lips with her own. And Catra feels lightheaded. Elated. Because Adora is finally hers. She leans into the kiss, wanting to show just how much she wants to be hers too in one big, mewling, moaning mess of bliss, and then-

Then there’s a door chime.

Adora stills.

The door chimes again.

Adora parts from her lips, holding her gaze.

“Who ever it is, I’m going to kill them,” she says and lets go of her, heading to the door.

Catra sags against the wall, remembering how to breathe.

Adora opens the door to reveal Kyle, who recoils from her disheveled and incensed look.

“F-Force Captain Adora!” He says.

Catra notices he has a large scar running down the side of his face and is looking tougher than he should be. But still pretty nervous.

“What the hell, Kyle, do you want me to put you into an agonizer again?” Adora demands.

Whatever that agonizer is, Catra feels like putting Kyle in there herself.

Kyle snaps at attention. “Please don’t. I was trying to reach you but your comms weren’t working.”

“That’s because I had a good reason to switch them off!”

Kyle’s eyes flick to Catra. She glares back at him.

He snaps back. “There is an emergency with Erelandia, ma’am. It was really important to have your input.”

Adora groans and turns to Catra.

“Duty calls,” she says.

“Hey, want some help with the mushroom folks?” Catra dislodges from the wall.

Adora grins and walks over to her.

“I’ll handle it. This shouldn’t take long. To be continued, kitten.” She plants a kiss on her lips and heads out the door, pulling on her jacket and giving Kyle another murderous glare as she walks out.

Kyle sneaks a nervous glance at Catra and hurries after her.

Catra leans on the wall. Aw, she called her kitten.

  
**

Adora resolutely strides into the Brightmoon’s guest-prison room carrying a bed roll and a pillow.

Catra regards her, sitting cross-legged on a bed inside the barrier.

“Um. What’s that for?”

“I’ll be bunking here,” Adora says matter of factly and unrolls the bed on the floor.

Catra raises an eyebrow.

“What?” Adora says. “This is to watch you and to make sure that you won’t try anything. Nothing’s going on.

“What, I didn’t say anything,” Catra says innocently.

“What, do you mind?”

“No no, do go ahead. Watch me.” Catra bares a fang in a lopsided smirk.

Adora turns away. Her earlier resoluteness is rapidly giving way to feeling embarrassed.

Something is going on, actually. A wave of longing that threatened to engulf her when she imposed upon herself this guard duty and realized Catra could actually sleep in the same room with her, like they used to. She really missed this her first weeks in Brightmoon. 

Even if this is a Catra from a parallel Universe. Who none the less had the same experiences as the Catra she knew before leaving the Horde.

And she can’t give the important responsibility of making sure Catra wouldn’t try anything at night to anyone else, right? Yeah, this is really why she’s doing this.

“What if you get sleepy?” Catra’s voice is dripping sugar.

“Then I won’t sleep,” Adora groans inwardly.

“Anyway,” she says as she settles into the bedroll and props the pillow under her head.

“Good night Catra.”

Catra is silent for a moment, watching her without a trace of her earlier teasing. She stretches out on the bed.

“Good night. Adora.”

**

“That definitely looks much better,” Entrapta says, surveying the sanctum which is now creatively disarranged instead of just disarranged. Now everything is definitely easier to find.

A bot walks over to her and hands her a tray of food. “Oh thank you, Alison,” she pats it on the head and it squeaks, delighted.

“Did you upgrade one of the bots?” Hordak asks her.

“Oh yes! I was thinking of calling her Emily, or Emily Two, but that didn’t feel right. She brought us tiny foods from the mess and beverages! So we can work undisturbed.”

Hordak looks like he’s about to smile as he accepts a tiny piece of a gray ration bar.

“I’ve also put your equations up on the boards, here!” She glides over to several drawing boards with complicated scientific writings pinned to them. “I can already see a few possible alterations.”

Hordak nods, impressed.

“I have found something for you too.” He offers her a modified data pad. “I believe with some improvements this may be useful in your research as well.”

**

It’s dark. The outlines of Brightmoon room’s interior are barely recognizable.

“Hey Adora…” comes a quiet voice.

“Hm?…”

“Are you asleep?”

A pause.

“No.”

A pause.

“Are you?”

“Duh.”

Adora makes a muffled chuckle.

“What are you thinking about?” Catra continues quietly.

“I dunno… what are you thinking about?” Adora responds in the same way.

It feels like talking louder might somehow break the magic of the moment.

“I asked first.”

Adora thinks she can hear Catra sticking out her tongue at her.

She wants to roll over and look at her, there’s probably enough light to just make her out. But Catra’s eyes are nocturnal, and she doesn’t trust her own expression right now in case she might be looking.

“Do you remember that time when you put a mouse in Kyle’s ration bars stash?” She says instead. “Did that happen over there too?”

She hears a quiet snort.

“I can still see his expression,” Catra says. “That one is in my top three, I think…”

“Yeah, poor Kyle…” Adora chuckles. “Good thing Shadow Weaver didn’t find out…”

“Yeah…” Catra snorts quietly.

A pause.

“Was she… I mean… Is she…” Adora starts.

“Yeah. Same as here.”

Adora lays quietly for a moment.

“I’m sorry, Catra.”

For a moment Catra doesn’t respond.

“I’m sorry too, Adora.”

Adora rolls over. Two differently colored glowing eyes watch her from the bed, unblinking.

She watches her back.

“Should we…” she starts.

“Yeah, lets just sleep…” Catra says quietly.

**

It’s a nice morning in the Fright Zone. Definitely the nicest morning Catra’s had in… well, possibly ever.

She stretches out on the bed, uncoiling from laying curled at its foot. Lazily grins to herself as she looks at Adora who is sprawled next to her and is still sleeping.

Adora must’ve walked in sometime during the night after she dozed off. And then must’ve decided not to wake her, or was too tired. But now she’s here.

She takes her in. Apparently she still sleeps in a simple gray Horde issue underwear. She half expected huge wings on the butt or something. _We run the Horde_ , for crying out loud. Or that, in bold letters, yeah. And she still drools on the pillow, aw.

She… Okay, she missed this. These… nice, good things. Waking up next to Adora. And she could really get used to this again.

Should she get used to this?

She hasn’t really thought about implications or how that may work long term.

Other Adora would rather flake on what they always wanted together and go be a hero instead of being with her. Other Catra, would she be trying to do everything to get back to this Adora right now?… Or would she be having a blast, being the bad ass that she is, conquering other Etheria and subjugating her Adora.

Wait, what? She props herself on an elbow. Why did that just made her feel so weird? That shouldn’t bother her, right? That Adora has made her choice, she left her, she is her enemy. Who cares if the other Catra defeats her.

But she is _her_ enemy. They have this… _thing_ which they had after she left her. Which apparently didn’t happen here.

Is this why this Adora feels kind of different? Or is it because that makes her a better version? The Adora she always wanted. Everything else is the same right? She is still the same Adora she knew from before she left the Horde, right?

Adora stirs, rising from the depths of sleep.

She shouldn’t be trying to comprehend these kinds of complicated issues on a nice morning like this. Before she even got her ears scratched. Which is something she really missed too. She can at least have this.

Catra settles in closer to her, positioning her head next to Adora’s hand, so she can get said ear scratches when she wakes up. If Adora feels like it, it’s not like she’s feeling needy or anything.

Adora wakes. Sighs, noticing her.

“Good morning,” Adora says.

Then pushes up from the bed and begins to dress.

Catra props herself up, puzzled. “Wait, you’re already leaving?”

“Yeah. The Erelandia thing took longer than I thought yesterday, so I had to be late. And Etheria won’t conquer itself,” Adora nods and heads to the bathroom.

Catra sits up.

What was that.

After Adora rushes out, not having said much of anything else, Catra slides off the bed and goes to the computer console.

She should’ve done that yesterday, instead of laying around fantasizing about Adora after she left.

She enters the stupid password and starts reading the entries.

Her expression darkens increasingly.

“What did you do,” she says.

**

The morning comes to Brightmoon. Adora slowly blinks away the remains of sleep and stretches, yawning.

Okay, so maybe sleeping isn’t the most effective way of watching somebody during the night. Her friends must’ve known this would happen and just indulged her.

It comes to her attention that her foot feels kind of constricted. She looks down and gasps.

Apparently during the night she somehow rolled right up to the barrier, while still entangled in her bed roll – probably was sleep-fighting again - and now the lower part of the roll is protruding into the inside of the barrier – the magic force field was made for keeping one specific person in, not anything else in or out – and feels constricted because –

Because there’s Catra sleeping on it. Curled like she always liked to do and snoring softly in a nest she made from her own bedcover. Did she see the bedroll situation and just moved to sleep there sometime during the night? Adora’s heart swells.

Alright. This looks compromising though. Glimmer and Bow can walk in and it would take some explaining. Thankfully her foot hasn’t gone through and is not under Catra and if she could just carefully… extract herself… from the roll… Success!

But now she’s faced with a dilemma. To leave the roll like that or to attempt extraction? This still looks kind of compromising… Extraction mission it is.

Pulling isn’t working. But if she could maybe just dislodge Catra’s hand first…

She reaches through the field, passing it effortlessly and soundlessly. She carefully touches Catra’s hand…

“Mrrrp?” Catra mumbles in her sleep and shifts, and the next thing Adora knows her hand is captured in hers and is pressed to the feline’s chest.

A sudden rush of emotion washes over her, rooting her in place. It’s been so long since Catra touched her like this. Since Catra was tender. Even the very tips of her claws she’s using to make sure the hand doesn’t escape feel tender.

But she collects herself. Right. This didn’t go as planned.

She regards her situation. Half sticking through the force field to the inside of Catra’s cell with her forearm being possessively cradled by the prisoner.

Well… it can’t get anymore compromising than this.

With that she sighs, resigned, and shimmies over inside the force field to sit next to Catra. There’s no reason not to at least be comfortable.

As if sensing it, Catra rolls over and drapes herself over her with her head in her lap.

So apparently it can.

Adora gazes down at her.

She missed this. So much. Catra’s calming, relaxing presence in the moments like this, her soft breathing and the feel of her warm, silky soft fur against her skin, the weight of her body against her own. Her hand instinctively twitches towards Catra’s ear, both because she knows how she likes this and because she wants to remember how that feels. She’s just like her Catra used to be.

Her Catra. Oh crap. What about her Catra? Should she even be in here allowing herself this… whatever this is when her Catra is still out there? As much as this feels right, this isn’t right. Because as much as everything looks hopeless, as much as it seems they might never be like they were again… she should not give up on her.

And to add to her dismay, Catra stirs and wakes.

Her eyes slowly open. Wider. Then wider. Very wide. Then Catra blinks.

“Hey. Adora.” She says matter of factly. “What is going on?”

“Nothing!” Adora dislodges herself, making sure she doesn’t bump Catra’s head on the floor.

“Sorry, sorry.” She scrambles up and out through the barrier.

“The bed roll… just caught… and I was… pulling it.” She says, rubbing the back of her neck.

“Uh huh, I seee,” Catra drawls and stretches.

“Ow,” Adora sinks to the bedroll and covers her face.

“I am really sorry,” she mumbles through her fingers.

“What for? I haven’t slept so well in… forever. And I haven’t woken to something so nice… well. I guess the same.”

“Really?” Adora looks at her.

There’s a knock on the door.

Catra flicks her tail, pushing the edge of the bedroll out.

Adora gives her a thankful look as she arranges the roll properly and calls out.

“Yes?”

Door whooshes open and Bow rushes in, looking agitated.

“Adora! Oh, good that you’re both awake, I have something important to show you!”

He produces his data pad.

“Hey, what’s with all the yelling…” Glimmer materializes in the door, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

“Aww, what a perrrfectly cute nightie,” Catra croons.

Glimmer gasps and blushes, glaring at her. Then glimmers out.

Everybody waits.

She comes back, dressed for the day. Still glaring.

“Anyway.” Bow says. “I’ve received a message from Entrapta!”

Catra’s ears perk up.

“From the Fright Zone?” Glimmer says incredulously. “Now she decides to call?”

“Yes and no. She says she’s on the other side!” Bow activates the pad for everyone to see.

The image is somewhat garbled with static, but Entrapta is clearly visible, smiling and waving from inside Hordak’s sanctum.

“Hiii! I assume our time is synchronous to yours, so- I should say sorry for calling so late! But I thought you would like to know, me and Catra are in a parallel Universe, and just in case you’ve run into Catra these last couple of days, that would be the Catra from over here. But don’t worry, we’re working on eventually coming back. Just please take good care of her in the meantime! Oh.” She pauses. “By we I mean me and Hordak. Say hello, Hordak!”

She pans whatever device she was using to record to show Hordak standing near.

“Hello,” he says, appearing to feel out of place and looking odd with his goatee.

She pans back to herself. “Anyway, you should also know that the process switches whomever travels with their twin from the other side, so when we get back that Catra goes back here, so it shouldn’t be a problem for you. Got to go, it takes lots of power to transmit! Send a short message on the same frequency if you need to and I’ll be able to capture it! Bye!”

The message ends.

“And my pad can’t pinpoint where this message came from,” Bow says. “So this kind of confirms it?”

“That’s kind of a stretch, Bow,” Glimmer says.

But she’s starting to look like she considers it might be true, this seems way too long to go for a ploy. Besides Entrapta is just interested in tech, not participating in ploys.

“Hey! What was that about switching?” Catra says. “Because I’m not planning on going back.”

“Yeah, why does it have to work like that?” Adora says.

“Entrapta’s usually good with this kind of thing…” Bow says.

Adora turns to Catra. “Then what happens when our Catra decides to come back? I mean… if the same thing that happened to you happens to her, you are the same, you’d both feel the same, right?”

“What are you saying. Just send me back then? Get rid of me?” Catra stares at Adora.

Adora recoils. That hits way too close to home.

“Absolutely not! There’s no way I’m doing something like that ever again,” she says. “But I’m not giving up on any Catra, because stranding her there would be the same as sending you back.”

She turns to Bow. “We should let Entrapta know that we want to find another way. So they could both be on the one side.”

She looks at Catra. She seems to soften, and nods.

Glimmer face-palms. “Wait, do you want to have TWO Catras?”

“Um…” Adora loses her trail of thought because of the mental image that produced, which was definitely not worthy of She-Ra, the _mature_ hero of Etheria. What is wrong with her today?

The thought of both Catras ending up in their Universe did cross her mind. But there hasn’t been enough time to even start to properly process what that could mean. One Catra she’ll never give up on and who she’ll always hope would come back. Will always do everything for her to come back. The other Catra is what she always hoped would happen. How does that work? Can it work? How is she supposed to wrap her mind around that?

“Would that be so bad?” she says sheepishly.

“My mom would love it,” Glimmer mutters and zaps out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Catra is a complicated character on a good day, so naturally I had to go and put her into a completely non-canon situation and hope that my humble writing abilities will be enough to do it justice lol. This is probably also a good time to mention that English is not my first language, so if any of the grammar looks odd to you, it’s probably because of that lol.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven’t read chapter one you will probably be asking why are there so many Catras and Adoras and will be confused lol

“So, is cake better than the gray ration bars?” Adora studies Catra’s reaction.

She got a piece for each of them, and she watches Catra sampling hers ponderously, sitting across from her behind the magic barrier.

“I would go with yes.”

Adora beams. “Can’t believe you still eat the ration bars. I’d think you could get better food, running the Horde and everything.”

“I just happen to actually like the gray ones. What I can’t believe is that you eat cake for breakfast.” Catra sticks out her tongue and puts the plate down.

“Gooood morning Adora!” 

Swift Wind pokes his head into the room.

Catra promptly goes wide eyed, lunges towards the wall, bounds up an empty book cabinet and crouches on the top shelf, hissing with her tail bushy.

“Is that a talking HORSE?!” she rasps.

“Whoa, Catra,” Adora raises her hands to calm her. “It’s okay, it’s just Swift Wind.”

“Adora, it’s a TALKING HORSE!”

“I can see where this is going…” Swift Wind makes a face.

“Adora, WHAT THE FUCK!”

“O-kay, I think I shall return when more cultured attitudes prevail,” Swift Wind says. “Later, Adora! Later cat-person!”

He pokes back.

“I’m a magicat!” Catra hisses after him.

“And I’m majestic!” Comes his receding voice.

“Honestly Catra, it’s alright,” Adora says, choking down the laughter.

“Alright? Seriously? What, is there more crazy talking stuff you want to tell me about?”

“Like what?” Adora bristles with a laugh she can’t contain.

“I dunno! Like… a talking broom?”

“No, but I do know a weird old lady who has a broom,” Adora says, her eyes tearing with mirth. Oh she missed this.

Catra starts to relax.

“Would you like me to tell you about it?” Adora says.

“Yeah, okay…” Catra says.

She flattens her tail. “Maybe you can tell me about other stuff that happened to you here too.”

“Well come down, and I will.” Adora grins.

**

Well this place looks different. 

Catra studies the Fright Zone’s main mess hall which their squad used to frequent when they were cadets, back in her Universe.

An abundance of Horde banners, a bar, seriously? Off duty Horde personnel lounge around, along with a few shady looking mercenaries who have their own corner. The whole place looks more like an outlaw hangout. She wouldn’t mind it elsewhere, but her and Adora have let this place go.

The rowdy trio she’s come in search for catches her eye.

Lonnie, Rogelio and Kyle are seated around a table in the back, talking agitatedly about something that looks like fun and looking like they own the place. 

Well, Kyle still looks like he would’ve been nervous if he was alone, but that wicked scar puts him right at home. And did he do something to his hair? Lonnie has an eye patch which frankly looks sexy as hell on her, and Rogelio’s put silvery studs on his cranial spikes, nice. She can see why Kyle leans against his side as the magilizard raises a glass and growls something that is probably a toast. 

Lonnie notices her as she approaches.

“Force Captain Catraaaa!” She cheers with a raised glass.

Catra’s learned the three are her and Adora’s squad, which makes them elite, and allows them a level of familiarity which would be unthinkable for anyone else in the Horde.

She’s learned a lot from her personal files actually. How everything that happened in her own Universe up to the Princess Prom happened here in the same way. And then how Shadow Weaver… Erased Adora’s memory. Brain washed her. And how that apparently back fired. Resulting in her being demoted by Adora. How they got together afterwards. Which she gets, the feel of Adora’s lips and her body against her own still buzzing in her mind. And Adora finally confronting the old witch does seem like it could’ve been a good start for them. 

What the other Catra didn’t know, is what happened to the sorceress afterwards. She was presumably gone from the Fright Zone. 

But Catra remembers how difficult it was for her to take Shadow Weaver down. And she knows she wouldn’t have gone down without putting up a fight and trying to retaliate. Simply ending up ‘leaving’ just doesn’t sit right. 

Luckily she’s also learned where she can try to look for an answer.

Rogelio growls a greeting at her too, and Kyle looks like he wants to stand up and salute.

“Oh relax, Kyle, I’m off duty.”

“Really?” Lonnie drawls. “It’s ten AM.”

She’s one to talk, slurring her words already. Is this why this Horde hasn’t conquered Etheria yet? Pfft. 

“It’s off duty somewhere,” Catra smirks.

“To that!” Lonnie cheers.

“To Force Captain Catra!” Kyle joins in, followed by Rogelio.

Catra swipes a full glass from the table. “And to the best squad in the Horde!” 

They all drink to that.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” Kyle says, looking more relaxed now as it becomes clear she is not there to get back at him for the previous interruption.

“Ah, pfft.” She says. “Don’t mention it. I did want to talk to you though. Alone.”

The others exchange a glance but this must not be something unusual. Secrecy happens in the Horde.

She nods to a service corridor, Kyle rises and they walk out.

Once they’re there, and alone, she pins him to the wall with an elbow to his throat.

“Alright, Kyle. I’m going to ask you something and you’re going to answer.”

“I thought you said…” He stutters.

“Oh it’s not about that.” She rolls her eyes. “You’re kind of like her aid, right?”

Kyle appears to be too distracted by her elbow to notice her wording. He nods.

“So you would know if there was something going on that Adora was keeping from me, right? Like where Shadow Weaver is.”

Kyle straightens up. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, Kyle, Kyle, poor sweet Kyle. Would you like to go into the agonizer again?”

He does not. “Alright! But you can’t tell her I told you.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that. The same goes for you. If you mention this conversation to anyone, you will _want_ to go into agonizer.”

*

Catra descends the stairs into a dark, dank corridor.

She didn’t know the Fright Zone even had any levels this deep, they must’ve been obstructed by something in her Universe. And what was it with her personal codes not opening the passage leading in here? Someone definitely didn’t want this Catra to stumble onto this. It was only Entrapta’s assistance that allowed her to enter.

Her nocturnal eyes adjust. The place looks like it’s falling apart. Rubble on the floor, water trickles down the walls, creating rusty trails. Doesn’t look like anyone’s been in here in a while.

She hears faint coughing and heads forth. There’s a very faint glow coming from deep within the corridor, and when she comes close she can see it’s emanating from a force field blocking a single cell, giving just enough light for a non-nocturnal person to barely see.

Shadow Weaver is inside the cell. Chained with long chains that go to the wall. Looking terrible. Gaunt. Trickles of dark ether slowly roll off of her, as if her life is bleeding out.

The sorceress registers a presence and slowly raises her head, still wearing her mask.

“Catra?” Shadow Weaver’s voice is barely above a whisper.

“Oh Catra, is that really you? It has been so long.” She tries to surge forward but is too weak.

Catra notices the time marking scratches covering the entire walls.

Adora put her here? Well… considering what Shadow Weaver did to her maybe she had it coming. But…

“How long has it been since you’ve been fed?” Catra says quietly.

“A bot brings me food. Sometimes it gets lost on the way.” There’s an unhinged quality when she chuckles.

Alright, no. A prison cell – yes. But this is a bit too much, even for Shadow Weaver with all the messed up crap she’s done to them. Adora let this go too far. Why did she do this? Was it to prove some sort of a point?

“You’re not really Catra, are you?” Shadow Weaver gazes at her.

“Huh?”

“You have a different… vibration about you. Different from everything else.”

“It’s a long story.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” she chuckles and coughs.

“Yeah, well, let’s just say that for all intents and purposes I’m all the Catra you need.” She pauses. “I’ll have to go do something and then I’ll be back.”

“No, wait!” Shadow Weaver leans forward and almost falls.

Catra stills. “Do you want to eat something or not?”

“I will be back,” she adds.

“You promise?”

Catra shudders.

“I promise,” she says, knowing it to be true.

**

Adora is sitting on the floor of Brightmoon’s guest room across from Catra, holding a hand of cards. At some point she just moved to the inside of the barrier again so they could play properly. 

That’s when Catra finally asked her about her long term accommodation plan.

Adora had one devised, and Catra deemed it as good. 

But now, as she watches Catra pause to study her own cards, she gets a little worried again about its implementation.

Even though this Catra didn’t fight or hurt any of the people here, she still did all the same things up to the Princess Prom over there. So Glimmer and Queen Angela might not be too thrilled with the idea of easing her confinement. Or letting her out. 

On the other hand this Catra defected from the same Horde, surrendered willingly and offered to join them, and could be really valuable in fighting it here. That definitely would be Adora’s argument. But first she has to make sure that this Catra stays.

“I think maybe I should check on Bow,” Adora says and starts rising up. 

“Oh relax, Adora.” Catra says. “There’s nothing happening until Arrowboy gets a message back. So just… sit back down.”

“I thought you’d be more worried.”

“I am. But there’s nothing I can do to help right now, so… There’s no point in trying to jump out from my fur.”

Adora blows out air and sits, arranges her cards and peers over their rim at Catra.

Catra smirks and licks a fang. “You were never good at this.”

“Cards? Ha, prepare to be annihilated.”

“No, relaxing.”

“Well yeah. I wouldn’t say never though, I mean…” she trails off.

“What?” 

Not when Catra used to curl against her and purr when she scratched her ears.

Catra flicks an ear, as if reading her mind.

“Nothing.” Adora blushes. “Just go on, what were you saying.”

“Right, back to my story,” Catra clears her throat. “And then you put Kyle into the agonizer.” 

“I did not!” Adora says shocked. 

“Yeah, you did,” Catra says, amused.

“I refuse to believe I would’ve put Kyle into that agonizer thing. It sounds awful.”

“It kind of is.”

“And what, you just stood and watched?” That sounded harsher than Adora intended.

Catra lowers her cards.

“That wasn’t the only thing I watched, Adora. Or the only thing I did.”

Adora studies her. She gets that, this Catra used to be in the Horde too. And Horde Catra does bad things, and hurts people. But to the best of her still incomplete understanding, after continuously trying to figure it out, Catra reacts. To stuff. It’s just difficult to picture her participating in torturing someone because, hey, it’s to make them learn and for their own good so there’s nothing wrong with it. That’s more like someone else they both know.

“No, I meant that this might be a bit too much, even by Catra standards.”

Catra’s ear twitches.

“I guess the dynamics of my and Adora’s relationship may have become a little more complicated than just standing and watching and agreeing with everything,” Catra says.

Adora furrows her brow. What is Catra implying? 

“Is that what I would’ve become if I’d stayed?” She says. “Sooner or later Shadow Weaver would’ve had to brainwash me, there’s no way I would’ve willingly participated in what Horde does.” 

She pauses, and sighs. “If only my Catra could realize that.”

“Something tells me she’s going to find out.”

“Oh.” Adora looks up at her. Could she hope for that?

“So um.” She says, rubbing the back of her neck. “You said… relationship.”

“Yeah? What about it?” Catra raises an eyebrow at her. Possibly a little too pointedly. 

Adora feels herself beginning to blush again.

“You said… you were together. Does this mean like…” She stalls, because suddenly it’s too overwhelming. Is she seriously asking Catra if they are together-together there? It’s like asking her Catra if they could be together, and she doesn’t think she’s prepared for that… so way not prepared for that. But also wants to find out so badly…

“Like what. Adora.” Catra quips innocently.

Hearing Catra utter her name in such a manner sends goose bumps down Adora’s skin. So this Catra is just as bad a tease as hers.

“Bow has an update!” Glimmer’s voice next to them startles them both. 

They didn’t even hear her materialize.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Were you in the middle of something?” Glimmer says, not looking particularly sorry.

**

The Fright Zone’s main mess is empty at this hour, and Catra is grateful for that as she fills a plate with gray ration bars.

“Hey Catra.” 

She turns to Adora’s voice.

“Oh, hey.”

“What’s this about me getting a notification that someone entered lower levels with my code and then I learn that it was you?”

Adora gets straight to the point and is apparently none too pleased.

So the stealth approach is up. Then the best course of action is to dip into honesty. 

Catra lowers her plate and stares at her.

“Did you think I wouldn’t find out she was there?” she says. “How long were you going to keep this from me?”

Adora shrugs. “What’s there to keep? She was dangerous, I wasn’t going to allow her to mess with my mind ever again. Besides she was in the way of us moving up. What’s the big deal?”

The big deal? 

“Do you even go down there? To see how it is?”

“What for? She got what she deserved. And if I never have to think of her again that would be too soon.” Adora says. 

Catra’s ear twitch.

Adora studies her. “I would think if anyone could appreciate her situation, it would be you, considering how she used to treat you too.” She says, watching her carefully. 

“Oh, I was impressed. Very nice way for you to get back at her,” Catra says tersely. “Is that why you blocked my access down there, so I could appreciate it?”

Adora smirks slightly, getting the reaction she expected.

“Oh Catra,” She shakes her head reproachfully. “We both know that sometimes you can be irrational. That sometimes you don’t really know what you’re doing. That was for your own good.”

Catra recoils. 

She’s the _Adora_ here. The one who doesn’t know what she’s doing, because she gets upset about things like how Shadow Weaver’s being treated and then does something irrational and needs to be brought back into Horde’s fold, for her own good. She’s the _good_ one here. She, who nearly crushed Frosta’s castle in both Universes. Who has it in her to rather see Brightmoon in rubble than let Adora win. And who knows what else.

What does that make this Adora.

She swallows. “I guess, yeah. Sometimes,” she says. “I just… got angry. It happens.”

“See, that’s why I did it. Don’t worry about it. I’ve changed the code, so no need to go back there. Okay, kitten?”

The word sends chills down Catra’s spine.

“Fine,” Catra says. “Just maybe make sure she’s fed more often, or something.”

Catra pointedly pops a piece of a ration bar in her mouth and exits the room with the rest of her food. 

Adora watches her go and her eyes narrow.

Once outside, and after making sure she’s got far enough, Catra presses a hand to her ear.

“Entrapta.”

She’s convinced the geek princess that having a way to communicate securely would be more preferable than her popping out from the vents all the time.

“Oh hi, how are you doing,” Entrapta’s voice sounds in her ear comm.

“I need you to give me a way to access the lower level again, so Adora won’t know, can you do that? And also that thing you’re working on, about coming back? I have a feeling you should speed it up. Like a lot.”

*

Entrapta disconnects the communicator on her end and looks around the lab. She rubs her chin with a strand of hair.

“You would have to go soon, wouldn’t you,” Hordak says.

“But we haven’t discovered the way for you to travel back in time yet,” she glides over to him slowly.

A hint of a sad smile grazes his lips.

“I know you figured out the time travel equations have no solution a long time ago. Same as I did.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. We were having so much fun, I didn’t want to say anything. I wish I could’ve been of more help.”

“You… have been of help. I’m…” He raises his hand as if he’s giving a speech. Expressing his feelings has never come easy for him. But he softens as he looks at her. “I’m… grateful to you. For this opportunity… to have a proper goodbye.”

She smiles and puts her hair strands on his shoulders. Then hesitates slightly and puts her hand on his chest, not quite knowing if that’s the right thing to do. He covers it with his own, looking down at her fondly.

“Will you be alright now?” She says.

“I believe… I will.”

“And you’ll have Alison!” She says excited.

*

“I didn’t think you’d come back,” Shadow Weaver tells her as she carefully slides the tray of food through the force field.

“You always should’ve had a higher opinion of me,” Catra says. “Take it easy on that,” She adds, as she starts eating.

She studies the sorceress, frowning.

“Do you have any idea what’s going on up there?” Catra says, slowly. “Do you want to know what happened after what you did?”

“Oh no, I think I’ve seen enough of what my plan for Adora has ended up in. I can imagine it hasn’t gotten any better since.”

“How could you do that to her?” 

The force of emotion behind her words makes her ear twitch, startled.

When she told her Adora she didn’t want to allow Shadow Weaver to erase her memory, it was true. Yes, Adora was her enemy, and she fought her, she tried to hurt her. But the possibility of letting Shadow Weaver hurt her made something inside her protest. Maybe because she could relate to how that would feel.

And what Shadow Weaver has turned this Adora into… That’s not the Adora she knows. Not the one from before leaving the Horde. Not the one who promised. Not even the one from after, who is her enemy, and who frankly is… kind of more preferable than this.

“You’ve brainwashed her… into an uncaring evil robot monster.” Catra says.

“Evil… Should you be one to talk? Even if you come from a different place, I can still sense it…”

“That only makes my point.”

Shadow Weaver sighs, resigned. “That’s not what I wanted. I wanted you both to become stronger. Not to become a monster.”

“Well that sounds kind of rich, coming from you.” Catra stares at her, accusatory.

“I suppose. But parents want their children to surpass them. To become better. And I guess in my case it means that you shouldn’t have become a monster.” She almost chuckles.

Catra stares at her, taken aback by her acknowledgement. 

When she came here she expected she would have to convince her. She now sees she won’t need to. After a moment she speaks.

“If you really mean that… I may know a way you can still make that happen. If you think you’re strong enough.”

Shadow Weaver looks up at her.

“I suppose you would also want to know if you can trust me?”

“Something tells me I can take that risk.”

* 

She is stalking through the maze of Fright Zone levels when she hears her name.

“Catra!”

She stops and turns to see Lonnie. Corridor lights gleam on the dark material of her eye patch.

Rogelio is there too.

“This isn’t a good time, Lonnie.”

“Do you know what’s going on?” Lonnie marches up to her, with Rogelio right on her heels and not looking very happy either.

“Could you be more specific? And careful with that tone, soldier.”

“Oh, don’t you soldier me now. Do you know why she did it?”

“Grrr!” Rogelio says.

Catra sighs. “I assume that’s something about what Adora did.”

“Adora took Kyle into the agonizer again. Look, I know saying this is insubordination, but this has got to stop! She can’t just keep doing that, that thing can kill you!”

Rogelio growls again, and Catra doesn’t need any translation to understand how much this affects him.

She studies the two of them. So Adora knows she talked to him. And would want to know the details. This is not good. Because she had to seek him out again, to ask him something about the cell. With Adora probably questioning him this very moment, it’s going to result in her timetable shifting significantly. 

“Do you want this to stop?” she says. “I have a plan how to do that. But I think I might need your help. Can I count on you?”

“Seriously? Hell yeah, about time!” Lonnie says.

“Grr’r gr grr grrr grrrr!” Rogelio says.

**

Bow tinkers with his data pad, sitting inside the magical force field with Catra and Adora. 

Glimmer observes this from the outside, appearing none too pleased with this situation, her arms crossed and foot tapping.

“Alright, so remember how Entrapta told us she could capture our message?” Bow says. “When I sent our response, I suggested an idea for a modification so we might actually talk through this thing. I’ve finished tuning it up so when Entrapta notices it on her end we should be able to communicate properly.”

He glances at Glimmer. She sighs and steps inside the barrier.

“See?” Catra smirks at her. “The world didn’t end.”

Glimmer snorts and rolls her eyes. “Yet.” 

“Aw-” Bow starts to say something that would probably end with ‘cute’ but Glimmer and Catra both glare at him.

“Oh hi Bow, is that you?” Comes Entrapta’s voice and her staticked image appears on the pad.

“It worked!” Bow says.

They gather around the pad.

“It’s perfect timing, I was just about to call,” Entrapta says. “There’s been a slight change of plans! So we’ll have to come back really soon. And in order for everything to work you’ll have to operate the console I have in my lab on your end.”

“In the Fright Zone?” Glimmer says incredulously. “Oh and by the way. I’d really like to use this opportunity to let you know just how much we appreciate all the automatons of destruction you’ve been making for the Horde to sic on us!”

“Thank you, aren’t they adorable?” Entrapta says excitedly.

Glimmer groans.

“I’m with Glimmer here, Entrapta. Think about what you’re doing,” Bow nods. “But about the console. How will we know what to do?”

“I’m attaching instructions.”

“Wait, what about Catra?” Adora says. “Can she stay here?”

“Oh,” Entrapta looks between her and Catra. “I’m afraid this will require developing an entirely different teleportation technology, which could take months. Probably years! Maybe even a lifetime!” Her eyes light up in scientific excitement.

“What?” Catra exclaims. “Well then develop it! I can wait here, thank you, I’m not going back!” She backs away.

Adora makes a move to calm her down. Catra stares at her, breathing heavily.

Entrapta glances to her side. “Um… There’s someone here who wants to talk to you.” She glances again. “Just to Catra, alone.”

“Wait, wait, what?” Adora says. “Who wants to talk to Catra alone?” 

“And it’s kind of urgent,” Entrapta adds.

Catra takes a few breaths. “Alright, give me that.” She takes the pad.

“Wait, hold on, Catra?” Adora doesn’t want to leave.

“I’ll handle it, Adora.” Catra says.

Adora still sends a few glances over her shoulder as Glimmer ushers her out of the room, followed by Bow.

The door closes behind them.

“Hey, Catra.”

That’s something Catra’s never expected to hear herself say.

And then repeat.

“Hey, Catra,” she says, looking at the mirror image of herself on the pad’s screen. 

She wonders if the other one is thinking the same thing.

“This is weird,” she says.

“Tell me about it.” 

The other one pauses. “Okay, seriously, Avocato?”

“Ugh, long story.” 

She shakes her head. “So… Did you want me alone so you could say you’re staying there?” 

“Not exactly,” Catra says.

*

“I’m going to go check on her,” Adora stops her restless pacing and moves towards the door. 

She couldn’t make out the hushed conversation that was happening behind it, it all sounded like muffled Catra.

Glimmer appears in front of her.

“Adora, she said-”

“Oh I know what she said. Don’t you think I know who it is that wants to talk to her alone? I’m not an idiot.”

Bow raises his hands, taken aback. They rarely see Adora this tense, possibly never. “Adora, no one is saying that.”

“Well then, I’m going in.”

She strides through the door.

Catra lowers the data pad. She has just finished talking.

“Catra,” Adora demands. “What did she say to you?”

“It’s alright, Adora.”

“What, what, alright? What do you mean alright? Is she what… like wants to stay there?”

It can’t be. Not after what this Catra has told her. Despite all the things she did, it can’t be her Catra.

Catra sighs, resigned. “There is a way to make it all work. But we have no more time left. We have to get to the Fright Zone right now, or they will be in trouble. And you will need me there.”

“Wait, what do you mean work?” Adora says.

“What do you mean now?” Glimmer says.

“You can teleport, right?” Catra says.

Glimmer looks at her incredulously. Both because of what she’s suggesting to do and because of not being sure exactly when or why did she start to trust this Catra enough to go for it.

She glances at Adora who’s looking at Catra with worry etched into her face.

Oh… That’s why.

*

Deep within the Fright Zone, a magical teleportation hum builds up and Glimmer lands, tumbling to the floor of a dim empty room in a heap with Adora, Catra and Bow.

They scramble up to their feet, panting.

“Twenty. Jumps. In a row.” Glimmer gasps. “I’m never doing this again.”

“Me neither,” Catra looks queasy.

“Did I at least land where you wanted?” Glimmer turns to Adora. “Because I seriously need to have a long rest before I can jump again.”

“Yeah.” Adora looks around. “Right where the laundry should be, perfect.”

Bow’s eyes light up. “Oh, this is going to be the classic Best Friends Squad plan!”

“Egh…” Glimmer scrunches her face, looking back and forth between him and Catra. Then sighs, resigned. “Ugh, whatever.”

Moments later, Catra exits into a corridor in the company of three uniformed Horde Guards.

“Entrapta’s lab is this way,” she nods.

They start walking and one of the guards levels with her.

“Okay,” Adora says. “So now as we’re no longer in any immediate rush, you are going to tell me what you meant by ‘make it all work’, right?” She raises her helmet to look at Catra. “Or were you going to evade it forever and just not tell me?”

“Ugh, I just know you’re going to be weird about it,” Catra says, looking at the passing wall. “And so does she.”

“What, weird? I don’t get weird,” Adora says.

Catra gives her a look.

“Okay. Fine. Maybe a little weird. Sometimes.”

Catra chuckles.

Adora looks at her expectantly.  
  
Catra sighs. “Fine. So remember how you told me you were not going to give up on any Catra?” She says. “So turns out I can’t give up on an Adora either.”

Adora stops. 

“So are you…”

Catra nods.

Adora is taken aback by the profound sense of loss that brings. Yes, her Catra would be coming back, but this Catra is so much like hers. In so many ways. She is her, really. Even if they don’t have this… _thing_ that they had, at least not all of it. She would miss her so much. Just as she misses hers.

“Then… what about that whole thing with the other Adora. Are you saying it can be fixed?” Adora says. Does this mean her Catra couldn’t give up on an Adora too?

“You shouldn’t underestimate your Catras.” Catra smiles.

Adora looks at her with tears brimming in her eyes.

She reaches out and pulls her to herself, burying her face in her hair. Catra lets out a small sigh and tucks her nose to her neck, molding against her.

“Can I just…” Adora says quietly.

“Yeah, go ahead…” Catra murmurs.

Adora’s hand goes up in her hair, to her ear. She scratches it gently, inhaling Catra’s scent, holding her close, feeling her body melting against her in response, and she wants to commit, to burn the moment to memory.

One of the remaining Horde guards elbows the other.

“Told you…” Bow whispers.

Glimmer’s eye roll can be felt through the helmet’s faceplate.

A noise startles them.

“Oh my gosh, kitty! Is that you?”

Adora flops her helmet back down, seeing Scorpia at the end of the corridor.

“Yes?” Catra slowly turns. “That’s me, Force Captain Scorpia,” she nods. It seems she’s unsure what kind of relationship Catra has with Scorpia in this Universe.

Scorpia however has no such qualms. She rushes over and scoops her favorite Wild Cat into a giant hug. Catra suffers through it stoically. 

“Where have you been? You rushed out of Entrapta’s lab and then just poof! Nowhere to be found. I thought you might’ve been captured again!”

Scorpia puts her down. “Do you realize how worried I’ve been?”

“Um. Yes. I shouldn’t have done that.” Catra says. “My communicator broke. But yeah, Entrapta, that’s what I’ve been doing, looking for a way to find Entrapta.”

“Did you find it?”

“As a matter of fact,” Catra smirks. “I have. We need to get to the lab.”

“That’s great news!” Scorpia says. “Oh, you mean, you and…” she gestures to the three guards.

“These are tech experts I’ve found, they’re going to help.” Catra supplies.

“Hmm, why would a tech expert have a bow?” Scorpia muses.

One of the guards squirms.

“Scorpia? The lab? It’s kind of urgent.” Catra says.

**

“Hey. Adora.”

Catra enters the agonizer chamber.

Kyle is there, writhing inside the agonizer tube at the wall. Red light is flowing over him and it looks like it’s very unpleasant, to say the least.

Adora turns to her.

“Ha, I actually thought I was going to have to go look for you,” she says, smirking.

“Well you know me, I just can’t stay away,” Catra says, advancing into the room. 

She could’ve bought a little more time for her plan if she had waited for Adora to find her, but she preferred to start this on her own terms. Not to mention that Kyle looks like he won’t last much longer. Not that she cares, or anything.

“Don’t you think he’s had enough?” She nods at the tube.

“Who, Kyle? Hmm, no, considering it was him who allowed you to find where Shadow Weaver is, I don’t think so.” 

Was she even going to let him out?

Adora pins her with her eyes. “And now I also discover that apparently you didn’t listen to me, and continued to sneak around behind my back. What was the plan, Catra?” Adora smirks.

That right there doesn’t even look like the Adora she knows.

Adora glances towards Catra’s hip. “Hey, what’s with the whip?” 

“What’s with the swords?” Catra nods towards Adora’s back.

They both shift slightly, coming to an understanding. This isn’t going to be a conversation.

“What were you planning to do, Adora? Put me in a cell too?” Catra says, watching her.

“No, I’m planing to reconsider the whole us running the Horde together thing. But yeah, maybe a night in a cell is going to do you good, for starters.” Adora watches her carefully too.

“Something tells me that after you came back we were never together to begin with,” Catra says.

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just that I resign,” Catra says and slices at the chamber control panel with her claws.

It spews sparks, the light flickers, steam hisses from erupting ducts and Kyle falls out of the agonizer.

“Ha.” Adora says. “I thought you might try something like that. Scorpia!”

A large figure appears out of the steam.

Force Captain Scorpia raises her arms, which end in canons larger than her pincers, and trains them at Catra, smiling.

“Hello, kitty.”

“Fuuuuuck…” Catra says.

**

They don’t make it to Entrapta’s lab.

When Catra, Scorpia and the three Horde tech experts round a bend in the corridor, Hordak and a squad of guards are there, blocking their way.

“Lord Hordak,” Catra says, sensing trouble.

“That magicat is an impostor,” Hordak says.

Catra spins to Adora. “You must get them to the lab!”

“For the honor of Grayskull!”

Suddenly there’s an eight feet tall glowing She-Ra.

“I’m with you,” She-Ra nods.

Catra face-palms. “Forgot about that again.”

“Wait, what?” Scorpia says.

“No, the lab is the mission, you’re the heaviest hitter, go!” Catra says.

She-Ra looks like she’s going to protest.

“I’ll hold him, don’t worry!”

She-Ra nods. “Be careful!”

She, Glimmer and Bow retreat back down the corridor.

“Are you done?” Hordak says. “You’ve brought enemies into the Fright Zone.” He proclaims. “You’ve brought She-Ra. They will not be able to get far. I know about Entrapta’s experiment. I shall get it out of you how to reverse it and how to bring her and the real Catra back.”

“Yeah, are _you_ done?” Catra says.

“Seize her!” He points and the guards charge.

“Hey, don’t hurt my Wild Cat!” Scorpia says and gets between them.

**

“Lonnie! Rogelio!” Catra calls.

The two jump into the agonizer chamber behind her, tasers ready.

She smirks at Adora. “I thought you might try something like that too.”

Scorpia fires her canons.

Catra lunges to the side, nearly getting singed.

Scorpia tracks her and doesn’t see Lonnie leaping and landing against her. The impact topples her over.

Adora lunges at Catra, swords drawn.

Rogelio dives to the agonizer and picks Kyle up.

“Get him out!” Catra shouts, leaping backwards and uncurling her whip, nearly avoiding the tip of a sword.

Rogelio hoists him on his shoulder and jumps out of the room.

Scorpia knocks taser out from Lonnie’s hand, forcing her to jump off and follow Rogelio. Scorpia scrambles up and gives chase.

Catra smirks, cracks the whip, making Adora duck, and bounds up the wall to an open vent tunnel.

Adora grunts and follows.

**

“Scorpia, duck!”

“Where?”

Good enough. Catra swings, slicing at a tube on the wall, and the corridor fills with steam, obstructing Hordak and the guards and making it impossible to see past a few steps.

She ducks a guard who appears out of the gloom, rolling him over her back to the floor.

More come, lunging, but she pounces, evades, dives, slices and has no problem with them.

She spots one that can’t see her, pounces on his back, digging her claws into his shoulders. Uses him as a launch pad to jump to the pipes on the wall.

“Scorpia, if you know what’s best for you, get out!”

“But Wild Cat!” Comes from the steam.

“Go help the others then!”

“I’m really not sure about the mutiny-ish vibe this is giving me, but okay!”

Catra slides down the wall, taking down another guard by rolling under his feet, and looks around.

The steam begins to clear and she sees Hordak.

He flings off the cape that was covering his exoskeleton and spreads his arms and his claw tipped fingers in all his metallically gleaming cybernetic glory, challenging her.

“Ha,” he says.

“Bring it on,” Catra says, unleashing her claws.

**

The whip cracks and wraps around the base of a sword, yanking it out of Adora’s hand and sending it clattering to the tunnel’s floor.

Adora isn’t discouraged and charges Catra with the remaining one.

Catra jumps back and dives out of the tunnel’s end.

It opens onto a catwalk overhanging a large abyss, on the bottom of which is a part of Horde’s foundry, filled with giant pots of molten metal.

Catra rushes forth.

Adora slides out of the tunnel and pursues.

“Ha!” She shouts, bounding after her on the catwalk. “Not many ways for you to go!”

The only reasonable way is across the chasm, where the catwalk connects with other Fright Zone buildings.

“You’re still the slowest person in the world!” Catra throws back. She’s gotten almost half way across already.

She turns around, stopping.

Adora slows down, breathing heavily and leaning on the railing, glaring at her with the glow of the foundry reflected in her eyes and her hair poof half unraveled.

Catra slowly backs away. Fighting Adora is not something new. But this time is different. This time it feels like Adora really wants to hurt her. And this time she reminds herself she doesn’t want to hurt Adora back.

Everything about the excursion to this place feels wrong. Like looking into a warped mirror and seeing a terrible reflection. The sooner she gets home, the better.

But first she needs to finish this. Besides she kind of owes it to the other Catra, considering she and this Adora nearly had-

A sound of an engine rumble mounts, distracting them from their standoff.

The large scorpion-shaped dropship that she last saw at the Princess Prom gracefully rises up from the chasm and hovers with its nose trained at them. Scorpia can be seen behind the translucent canopy, having shed her canons to have her pincers on the controls, smirking maniacally.

Catra cocks her head. She’s been wondering what happened to this thing.

Scorpia grins and fires the ship’s cannons. The pulse hits the catwalk not far from Catra, making it wobble and almost throwing both of them off.

“Scorpia, what the fuck!” Adora yells.

But this Scorpia has gotten way too gun-ho for any reasonable thought.

She fires again and the catwalk partially unhinges, tilting to the side.

Both Catra and Adora slip, grab the railing and end half-hanging, trying to scrape a foothold on the slick metal surface.

Adora manages to sheathe her sword but that nearly sends her sliding completely off.

Catra cracks her whip, latching it on a spot between them. She pushes off, swings above the abyss and lands on the railing right above Adora.

She reaches down and grabs her forearm, not letting her slide off further.

Adora stares at her.

And grabs the front of her outfit with her free hand, pulling her to herself, their faces inches apart.

Catra scratches for grip on the railing.

“Are you insane?!” She hisses.

“Mine now!” Adora rasps.

The dropship’s canons whine up again, readying to deliver the blow that will most likely be fatal.

But there’s also a sound of an approaching skiff.

Which jumps out from behind a building off a high skiffway and lands right on the Scorpion ship’s back with a crash, entangling with it and making it wobble and miss its target.

Catra sees Lonnie and Rogelio, who regain their footing on the skiff’s deck and jump down onto the Scorpion ship’s back. Rogelio shoots a taser at the canopy, breaking it.

They drop down on Scorpia and tumble with her to the ship’s cockpit floor. Their combined strength is barely enough, but Lonnie finally manages to taser her out.

Scorpion ship continues to hover on auto-pilot, not good for anything else with the skiff on its back.

Catra grins.

Catwalk shakes.

And dislodges from the wall on one end.

With an earsplitting metal screech it begins to swing down into the chasm, hinging at the end that is still attached.

She and Adora both scream something unintelligible and hang for dear life as it sways down right in-between two giant pots of molten metal and grates to a halt, its lower end bending and twisting against the bottom of the chasm to cushion the impact, enough for them to only be thrown off to a slope of slag from the foundry instead of more damaging consequences.

They tumble and slide down the slope with a small avalanche of slag rubble and Catra gets to the bottom first.

She glances around. Yes, it’s not much further now. And Adora, who’s just reached the bottom not far from her, is not about to stop chasing. The other Catra better hurry with her part.

**

She-Ra deflects a taser blast with her shield and transforms it back into the sword, delivering a magical blast of her own, throwing a guard back.

They’ve gotten to Entrapta’s lab without much of a struggle, but now they are completely entrenched, with more and more Horde soldiers trying to pour through the entrances, and it’s taking nearly all of their collective efforts just to hold them back.

Bow shoots a net arrow, entrapping another, and Glimmer uses her sparkly magic blasts and staff to topple the one that got through.

She-Ra glances up, wondering how Catra is doing. If they’re so bogged down… She should’ve stayed with her. But she couldn’t have. Catra can take care of herself, she knows it from personal experience. But the longer they’re separated, the more another kind of anxiety starts to take root in her, the worry that-

“Adora!” She hears Bow and repels another guard just in time.

“Alright, someone needs to go input the numbers Entrapta’s given us!” Bow nudges his head at the console in the middle of the lab.

“I’m on it!” Glimmer rushes to him, taking his data pad.

“Twenty My Little Unicorn fanfictions under my belt, I can type faster than you!” she says.

“You never let me read those!” Bow fires a glue arrow.

“They’re personal!” Glimmer stretches her fingers and gets to work.

*

Catra lands on Hordak’s shoulders, going for the face.

She can’t reach it in time. She leaps off again to avoid a crushing swing of his clawed metal hand, and lands on the wall pipes, scratching for leverage.

The metal of his exoskeleton proved impervious to her claws. Must be something their Entrapta did. No weak spots she could find. And this Hordak was fast, much faster than she would’ve expected. But she gave him a run for his money, doing a good job of distracting him, going with him all the way up to the throne room. Hopefully Adora and the rest are about ready now. And Catra on the other side too.

Catra lunges of from the pipe, takes a running start on all fours up the stairs, leaps and lands on top of Hordak’s throne, tail in perfect balance.

This brings memories. Of her and Adora in the similar chair, after they finally got what they wanted and started running the Horde by themselves. Before it became obvious it wasn’t as good as she thought it would be.

But this time there’s no Adora here. It’s just her and Hordak, glaring at her from the bottom of the stairs.

A movement to the side of him catches her eye.

The little Imp scurries over to him and up his leg and hands him something large… a weapon. Probably another of Entrapta’s things.

“Lets end this,” he says, raising it.

Fuuuuck.

**

This is it. Catra backs into a passage and Adora staggers after her.

The whip got left behind on the railing, and Adora has the upper hand now, despite looking thoroughly disheveled and limping slightly.

“Where are you gonna run to, Catra?” Adora rasps. “Are you planning to run away from the Horde? Maybe I should see if Shadow Weaver has any magic left to erase _your_ memory. So you would love being here with me!”

“Oh, so it wasn’t okay to mess with your head, but okay to do the same with mine?” Catra challenges her, backing away.

“Yeah, if it gets you to admit you’re wrong, then yeah!”

Catra stops.

“But don’t you see Adora, you are now what she always told you to be. You do want to control me better. You really want me to be your sidekick, someone you can dispose of if it becomes too much of a nuisance. You have become her! You have become worse than her!”

“I’ve become better than her!”

“But not in the ways you should have.”

Catra pounces at her. Adora swings. Catra evades.

This is the place. It should be right there. But they haven’t done it yet, she’s not here-

The blunt side of the sword catches her arm, staggering her momentarily, and the next thing Adora is on top of her, tumbling to the ground and pinning her down with a sword to her throat.

“You’re done,” Adora says.

It’s too late.

A lean shape jumps from the shadows, and she can see that it’s Kyle, pulling Adora off of her with a Horde staff.

Adora staggers back, trying to see who that is and throw them of.

“Remember me?” Kyle says.

Catra jumps up and leaps at her.

**

Hordak fires.

Catra leaps at him from the throne a moment before the blast shatters it.

*

“All done!” Glimmer yells.

The console hums.

**

She flies through the air. And she doesn’t fly. She’s the green light again. And it feels like there’s someone there with her.

And then she’s leaping towards Hordak and not Adora, and lands on his chest, and the glowing crystal there is within her reach-

-And she’s leaping towards Adora and not Hordak, toppling her from Kyle’s grasp to the ground where a shining circle of magical light appears-

-And she tears the crystal out, feeling Hordak sag on the floor beneath her, powerless-

-And she watches Adora get caught in a column of magical light, safely being restrained.

**

The console hums, green swirls shimmer next to it and Entrapta appears in their place.

“Oh hi there!” She says to the stunned She-Ra, Bow and Glimmer. “Right on time, thanks!”

Before anyone can say anything else, a whole wave of Horde soldiers rushes in.

“Sorry, but looks like you better go.” Entrapta says as she presses keys on the console. “While this is still working, I think I better send you back to Brightmoon!”

“No-!” She-Ra reaches out, desperately.

But the console is already humming, and then there’s the green light, and the three are standing in the yard of Brightmoon’s castle, looking lost.

She-Ra dissolves and it’s just Adora.

“Wait…” she says, gazing into the distance.

Was that be the last time she got to talk to her?

Would that be the last time she ever gets to _talk_ to her?

**

Shadow Weaver separates herself from the shadows of the passage and looks at Adora in the column of magical light.

Adora recoils.

“Traitor!” she yells at Catra, making Kyle jump.

“Just do it now,” Catra says quietly.

This is it. This is her and other Catra’s plan. To pull Shadow Weaver out of her otherwise impenetrable cell using Entrapta’s device, placing her here. To deliver Adora to her, allowing her to do her thing. To agree to put their trust in this woman who’s hurt them so much.

Shadow Weaver nods and extends her hands. Swirls of magic reach towards Adora.

“I give you back what I stole from you,” Shadow Weaver says.

Adora gasps, arches as the magic washes over her. When it’s done she sags, falling to her knees. The light and magic disappears.

Catra cautiously steps over and lowers next to her, gently touching her shoulder.

Adora raises her head and looks at her, in a daze. A shadow of recognition passes over her face.

“Catra?” she says.

“Adora?” Catra says hesitantly.

“Catra!” Adora clutches her shoulders, staring into her eyes desperately, as if seeing her for the first time.

“Oh Catra…” She sobs and pulls her into a hug, burying her head on her shoulder.

Catra holds her close and rocks her, purring.

Finally Adora slowly dislodges. She looks into Catra’s eyes and gently touches her ear, and Catra shivers.

Adora turns to Shadow Weaver, glaring at her through tear rimmed eyes.

“How could you do that to me!” Adora rasps, breathing heavily. “To us!”

Shadow Weaver sighs, resigned. “Which part?” she says.

Her tone is free of malice and it takes Adora aback. She glances at Catra. A look passes between them and Catra nods.

Adora turns back to Shadow Weaver. “How far back would you like us to go?”

**

Catra gasps for air, standing over downed Hordak, who is too weak to fight now. Victory is hers.

Well… Fine, theirs. Other Catra did do an outstanding job. And also lined her up for one hell of a pounce. But she’s the one who delivered the winning blow. And just pulled off one hell of a plan on the other side - you’re much welcome, Mirror Catra. And she’s the one here now, so-

Victory is hers.

“Oh my gosh, Kitty! What happened?”

She turns and sees Scorpia rushing up to her. Catra squeaks as she scoops her up into a hug and has no other choice but to stoically bare it.

“Are you hurt? Do you need to be bandaged? I know you told me to go help the others, but I thought you might be in trouble, and gosh you’re fast.”

She puts her down and regards Hordak.

“So um… are we really doing this, whole mutiny-ish vibe kind of thing? I’m still not sure if I’m fully comfortable with it.”

“And nor should you be.” Hordak manages from the floor. “Seize that traitor!”

“Hey! Don’t talk to my Wild Cat like that!”

“Oh Scorpia,” Catra says, a grin spreading on her face. “You have no idea how much I missed you.”

“Really?” Scorpia’s eyes light up.

There’s a commotion at the door and Catra flinches, seeing Lonnie, Rogelio and Kyle rush in, appearing different from what she started to get accustomed to. But still being themselves.

“Oh hell, is it over already?” Lonnie exclaims.

“Dang it, we missed it…” Kyle says.

“Grrr,” Rogelio agrees.

“Then… Who’s in charge?” Lonnie says.

“You’re looking at her,” Catra says.

Lonnie quirks an eyebrow but refrains from further comments.

Scorpia glances at Hordak. “What should we do with him?”

“Ugh. Just put him in Shadow Weaver’s cell. Until I figure out what to do with all this.”

“But… where should I put Shadow Weaver then?”

Catra pauses.

“I’ll find something better.”

*

It is a dark, but clear night in the Fright Zone.

Entrapta’s gliding around her lab, her hair busy with arranging parts of various devices while she’s talking into a data pad.

“I’m glad to hear things are going well on your end, it’s pretty good here too. And also I agree with the calculations you’ve sent – it is a wonder any of it worked at all and our atoms weren’t dispersed through the entire Universe, two Universes in this case! I was correct to assume the device may not last long and to program all teleportations to be done simultaneously. It’s definitely a good idea to shelve the teleportation technology for now. But I’m glad we can still exchange messages! Say hi to Alison! Got to conserve power now, bye!”

She waves, and puts the pad away.

Catra enters the lab.

“Scorpia mentioned you wanted to see me?”

“That’s right! I wanted to let you know that it’s going to take a very serious research and a very long time before the teleportation can be used safely.”

“Honestly? I have no problem with that.”

“And also… is it okay if I’ll be visiting Hordak? He must be lonely in his cell.”

Catra’s ear twitches.

“Yeah. It’s okay.”

“Great!”

“Good night, Entrapta.” Catra exits.

Entrapta glides off to see what new and exciting inventions she can come up with.

Gardening. That’s what she should suggest to Catra next time they discuss plans for Hordak and Shadow Weaver. She’s read that it helps.

And then she can ask for a lab partner!

*

Hot wind blows across the red sands of the Crimson Waste. A cactus stands as a lone sentinel and a rolling stone tumbles across the view.

Inside the Crimson Waste bar, dust swirls in the rays of light diagonaling through the holes in the roof and a shady looking array of patrons lounge around.

A withered flap on the entrance gets pushed aside, and Adora steps in, adjusting her eyes to the dim light.

At the other end of the bar, another figure pushes aside a crumbling door and enters.

That person stops in recognition.

“Hey, Adora,” Catra says.

“Catra?” Adora responds, stunned. “Long time no see,” she adds accusingly.

“Well you know me, running the Horde is a busy work.”

“So I’ve heard.”

The patrons turn to see the exchange.

“Why are you here, in the Crimson Waste?” Adora says.

“I figure the same reason you are. I heard there was a ship.” Catra smirks.

“Are you looking for a ship?”

“Aren’t you looking for a ship?”

Adora’s hand goes to the hilt of her sword.

Catra puts her hand on the whip on her hip.

Patrons edge lower in their seats and the person tending the bar ducks behind it.

The two stand, staring at each other intently.

The dust keeps swirling.

“So um, are we?-” Adora says.

“Yeah, are we doing this or what?” Catra says.

“I dunno. Do you feel like it?”

“Not really. Maybe later?”

“So like… maybe…” Adora nudges to the bar.

“Sure, whatever.” Catra shrugs.

The patrons relax and the bartender reappears to take the order.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn’t intend to write a canon divergence fic when I started it, but the characters had their own ideas. Is it a canon divergence fic though? Would that excursion to the other side result in Catra reconciling with Adora earlier, or would they just talk a bit and then go back to the old ways? I leave that open.
> 
> I took a bit of a gamble writing two simultaneously happening actions with similarly named characters, I hope it wasn’t too confusing.
> 
> Also I almost didn’t include the Swift Wind Scene – I came up with it late in writing this, and it was difficult to find a good place for it. It didn’t do much for the story, but I’ve left it for fun.
> 
> *Notes edit:* I realized I made a tiny bit of mistake with the show's timeline - Entrapta upgrades Hordak's suit only after Shadow Weaver escapes. I'm going to go with that in this story it happens slightly earlier.


	3. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven’t decided if I see this as an actual epilogue or a bonus chapter of sorts, but I had a lot of fun writing it and it answers the question of how the hell did Kyle get there lol

It’s evening in the Fright Zone’s main mess hall, and the elite squad trio is gathered around their table, celebrating.

“So there I was, carried on Rogelio’s shoulder-” Kyle tells the tale of his epic adventure.

“Wait, you were actually conscious?” Lonnie interjects.

“Yes, but at first just barely.” Kyle says.

“Why did you make Rogelio carry you then?”

Rogelio growls, shrugging - he didn’t mind.

“Anyway,” Kyle continues. “There we were. Dodging into the vehicle bay to shake off our pursuer when I saw her. Fearsome Force Captain Scorpia, rushing inside. She scanned the horizon-”

“There’s no horizon in the vehicle bay.”

“Look, it’s my story. She scanned the horizon. Enraged that she’d lost her prey, she lunged towards her private garage where she jumped into her dreadful Princess Prom Bane and veered into the night to intercept the battling Force Captains.”

“Yeah, we were there. We told you to stay behind because you were all woozy, and went to stop her from helping Adora. Which we totally rocked!”

She fist-bumps with Rogelio.

“Actually, it was me who told you to go after her. And then I took another skiff to fulfill the crucial responsibility of going to the place where Force Captain Catra had laid her trap to make sure that nothing would interfere with her brilliant plan, and to keep an eye on Shadow Weaver when she gets there.”

“Keep an eye on Shadow Weaver?” Lonnie raises an eyebrow. “Well you’re lucky she wasn’t there yet.”

“Oh, come on.”

“Grrr,” Rogelio agrees with Kyle, putting an arm around his shoulders.

“Also, I’m confused,” Lonnie says. “Why couldn’t she just teleport Shadow Weaver somewhere closer, like right outside the room with Adora?”

“Because she didn’t know when the teleportation would become available and where Force Captain Adora would be! It required a whole program to be written in advance, with coordinates and everything.”

“Then why not just wait till it’s ready and teleport her into their bedroom sometime at night?”

Rogelio shudders.

“She couldn’t wait that long! She knew Force Captain Adora was about to learn she didn’t listen to her and was going to go after her.”

“Right, right…”

“So there I was. Hidden in the shadows from the eyes of my foes-”

“Again, there was no one-”

“Hidden from my foes! When I saw them. Two Force Captains locked in the throes of an epic battle. Ebbing and flowing in a graceful dance of death-”

“Have you been reading that confiscated novel by Sea Whatshisname? One that says ‘bosoms’ way too many times and has a disturbing mermaid fixation?”

“No, but that is what happened. It looked like Force Captain Catra’s plan was hanging by a thread. In her graceful might she had Force Captain Adora distracted, but the one who she was doing it for was not there yet, not ready to unleash her magical trap. And that’s when it happened.”

Kyle surges up and jumps on the table.

“Force Captain Catra had fallen. It looked like it was all over for her. When I jumped out from the shadows! Single-handedly overpowering Force Captain Adora! Resisting her furious struggling against my grasp and delivering her with laser sharp precision right into the claws of her rival, thus saving Force Captain’s Catra hide because only after that did Shadow Weaver finally appear.”

He sits back down.

“So yeah, basically I saved the Horde.”

And considering that after those events the agonizers have been utterly abolished and the Horde begun cease-fire talks with Princess Alliance he does have a point.

“Reeeealy,” Lonnie quirks an eyebrow.

“That’s how it happened. You can always ask the Force Captains, they’ll tell you.”

“Nah, we’re good. To the hero of the Horde!” She raises a glass.

“Gr Rrrr!” Rogelio joins, squeezing his shoulder.

“Yes, to Kyle!”

“To me!” Kyle joins in, grinning.


End file.
